But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
Ver. 19. But when Herod was dead] Not long after this butchery at Bethlehem he fell into a foul and loathsome disease, whereof he died: a so did Sulla, that bloody man before him; b so did Maximinus, and others after him. John de Roma, a cruel monk and inquisitioner (who used to fill boots with boiling grease, and so putting them upon the legs of those whom he examined, to tie them backward to a form, with their legs hanging down over a small fire, &c.), was smitten by God with an incurable disease, so loathsome that none could come near him, so swarming with vermin and so rotten, that the flesh fell away from the bones by piece meal, &c. Twiford (who was executioner of Frith, Bayfield, Bainham, Lambert, and other good men) died rotting above ground, that none could abide him. (Acts and Mon.) So did Alexander the cruel keeper of Newgate, and John Peter his son-in-law, who commonly, when he would affirm anything, used to say, If it be not true, I pray God I rot ere I die. Stephen Gardner rejoicing upon the news of the bishops burnt at Oxford, was suddenly seized by the terrible hand of God as he sat dining; continuing for the space of fifteen days in such intolerable torment, that he could not have any bowel movements, or otherwise, anything that he received; whereby his body being miserably inflamed (who had inflamed so many good martyrs before) was brought to a wretched end; his tongue hanging out all black and swollen, as Archbishop Arundel's did before him. (Acts and Mon.) But to return to Herod; when he saw he should die indeed, that there might be no mourning at his funeral, he commanded the Jewish nobility (whom he had imprisoned for that purpose in the Castle of Hippodromus) to be all slain as soon as ever he was dead. (Josephus.) And being at the point of death, he commanded his son Antipater to be executed in the prison, whom but a little while before he had declared heir of the kingdom. In November, 1572, appeared a new star in Cassiopeia, and continued sixteen months. Theodore Beza wittily applied it (saith Mr Camden, Elizabeth) to that star at Christ's birth, and to the infanticide there, and warned Charles IX to beware in this verse,
" Tu vero, Herodes sanguinolente, time. "
"And thou blood heard, truly fear"
The fifth month after the vanishing of this star, the said Charles, after long and grievous pains, died of exceeding bleeding. Constans fama est illum, dum e variis corporis partibus sanguis emanaret, in lecto scepe volutatum, inter horribilium blasphemiarum diras, tantam sanguinis vim proiecisse, ut paucas post horas mortuus fuerit: persecutors (as they say of the devil) go out with a stench. Arius (saith one) voiding out his guts, sent his soul, as a harbinger to hell, to provide room for his body: he was brought to confusion by the prayers of Alexander, the good Bishop of Constantinople, and his death was precationis opus, non morbi, work of pray not of death. (Socrat.) So, likely, was Herod's.
Behold, an angel] Glad of an office to serve the saints, Hebrews 1:14. They rejoice more in their names of office than of honour: to be called angels, watchmen, Dan 4:23 &c., than principalities; powers, &c. It was long ere Joseph heard from heaven, but God's time he knew was the best. And although he leave his people, to their thinking, yet he forsakes not. No, that he doth not, saith the author to the Hebrews. ουδ ου μη σε εγκαταλιπω. Hebrews 13:5 .
a Lento calore torrebatur. Ipsa quoque verenda putrefacta scatebant vermiculis. Joseph.
b Sulla saevus ita ut φονων ουτ αριθμος ουθ ορος esset, Plutarch. In rustico praedio pediculari morbo periit, η τε προτερον ευτυχια δοκουσα τοιουτο περιηλθεν αυτψ τελος .